I got a big surprise that just after the Chinese New Year ushered in, I received an email from Jean-Pascal Laffaille, my former big boss（high level of management team in the Corperation）, from France. I noticed that the email was sent at around 8:30pm Shanghai time. I was really happy that Jean-Pascal remembered the occasion and sent me the email just at the most auspicious moment of our Chinese calendar, Chu Xi, or the Eve of the New Year.
Jean-Pascal's email told that he has been extremely busy in recent months as now he has five grandchildren. Although he does not need to babysit these little ones as most Chinese grandparents would do, he still thought he should be stand-by in case he is called for help at home. he also said that he and Susan, his partner, traveled several places in Europe last year and took a few the so called "in-depth tour".
They spent 2 weeks in the South of Spain, covering Sevilla, Cordoba and Grenada in April last year, and the 3 weeks in the North-West of Scotland in particular on the islands in June. Croatia saw them for 10 days in September and probably for the rest of the year the couple stayed in their own house in Southern France, with or without their children and grandchildren. What an active and enjoyable life they have! And this description depicts my impression on westerner's often very relaxed and care-free retirement life, while the majority of them enjoy travelling around the world.
Jean-Pascal had been to many places and cities in China when he was director of global areas - (except North America and Africa) of the company that I used to work for. China, as one of the emerging economies in the world, was a key business destination that he visited many times, not only in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, but also in many second or third tier cities. Jean-Pascal showed big interest in China, its people (staff members were a good source for him to understand local people), culture and traditions. He loves Chinese food, even the typical Shanghai home-style dishes. The last time we met was about two years ago, when Jean-Pascal and Susan spent one night in Shanghai for transit before heading to Paris. I recommended very simple home-style Shanghainese food for dinner in a restaurant very close to the hotel where they stayed. I was quite surprised that they enjoyed very much the food. I admire those who can indulge in high luxury and at the same time, appreciate simple plain basics, just like Jean-Pascal.
Jean-Pascal is a very clever man. he is excellent in mental arithmetic which seems rare among most Western people. I remember once we had a business trip together to visit a potential acquiree in Dongguan, Guangdong province. Our two-hour-meeting was tough and Jean-Pascal took notes in two full pages in his A4-sized notebook. As the first round of interviews before our financial team in the headquarters world involve due diligence, he wanted to make sure some numbers provided by the acquiree were correct. While we were at a cafe at the airport, he asked me and my general manager to double check the numbers presented in the P & L statement (Profit & Loss Statement). Jean-Pascal took his coffee cup while looking at his notebook, I knew he was calculating mentally. Then he sipped his coffee and said, "I found there is roughly a discrepancey of 10% between what they claimed and my calculation. See, they said the revenue is 80 million and after deducting the cost, it is 65million; if the cost of manufacturing was included as so they said, the gross margin should be 15 million. Since the total GS & A (sales & market expense plus administration) was around 11 million according to them, then tax before the bottom line (net income before tax) should have been 4 million but not 4.5 million as they claimed. Or maybe they give the wrong average selling price, then the total revenue would be wrong." He then gave the detailed calculation on the unit weight of their key products and multiplied the annual total cubic tons which reached the global weight of their annual total production. It was so amazing that even with the help of a calculator, my calculation was not as quick as his mental arithmetic. I guess this was one of the reasons why Jean-Pascal was our big boss.
Jean-Pascal was a serious person. I remember once I drove him to Hangzhou from Cixi, Zhejiang province, to visit a client, but I was not familiar with the streets in downtown Hangzhou although I switched on the GPS. Jean-Pascal sat on the passenger's seat, beside me, looked at the GPS very carefully and in the meantime, he tried to grasp the meaning of the traffic boards along the streets. (But I didn't think he could make sense of them, at least not in full.) I was worried a lot as I did not want to give a bad impression to my big boss as a lousy driver. He noticed my concern, then comforted me, "Don't worry Whitney, I'll guide you as per the machine's instruction. You just drive ahead." Then I turned right, turned left, drove through the viaduct bridge according to his instructions. It seemed all went quite smoothly. Then we got down the bridge and turned right again. Until finally, when I drove to the sidewalk in front of the gate of a hospital, then I realized that it was wrong and stopped. He looked at me seriously and I looked at him. Then he said, "It's not my fault, it's the machine's fault." I couldn't help laughing out loudly. He just smiled innocently looking a little bewilded and embarrassed.
Jean-Pascal and I remain in contact after he retired in 2011. Last year his Christmas card did not reach me on time but flying around the world for about 3 months that I received it only towards the end of March, although it was posted on December 19 according to the postmark. I told Jean-Pascal aobut it and said, "Since you love to travel, so does your card. It sneaked off and maybe went around the Africa then came back to Shanghai finally, to the intended destination." So this year's card is still on the way to me, I guess.
Once again, Jean-Pascal asked me if I have made the plan to visit France. He seriously said to me that I should let him know my plan as early as possible otherwise he probably would not be in France.
Yes, I do look forward to that day when I will see Jean-Pascal in France, where, I trust he should take me to tour the most interesting places.
一张一弛话退休
除夕夜，我惊喜地收到我以前的大老板Jean-Pascal Laffaille先生发自法国的邮件，看到他发出的时间是除夕晚上8：30左右上海时间，他真是有心啊！在这么一个吉祥如意的中国春节之夜。
Jean-Pascal说最近他忙坏了，因为现在有了五个孙辈宝宝了，虽然不需要他带，像中国的爷爷奶奶外公外婆那样，但他偶尔总要搭手帮个忙的。此外，和Susan一起旅行，依然是他的主旋律。而且，如果不离开欧洲，他会做“深度游”。
他们去年四月在西班牙南部待了两周，去了塞维利亚、科尔多瓦和格林纳达，六月的三个多星期都在苏格兰西北部的岛屿倘佯；九月的十多天时间里，又可以在克罗地亚找到他们的踪迹。其余时间便是在他们法国南部的花园房子里度过闲适却也充实的日子，有时孩子们也去，十分热闹。多么活跃又享受的时光啊！这就是我脑海中关于大部分西方人的退休后无忧无虑、自由旅行和周游世界的构想。
Jean-Pascal在我以前服务的公司任全球地区（北美、非洲除外）总裁的时候，来过中国很多地方。中国是全球经济飞速发展的一个国家，他会经常来中国，北上广以外，二三线城市也要去。Jean-Pascal对中国很感兴趣，人文，传统，当然通过雇员是了解中国人的一个窗口。他爱中国菜，连普通的家常菜也喜欢。两年前与他和Susan匆匆一晚（取道上海转机回巴黎）相见，我只随意带他们去了福州路酒店旁的家常小菜吃晚饭，没想到他们可喜欢了。我就欣赏这样的人，既可享受奢华，也不抗拒朴素，Jean-Pascal就是这样的。
Jean-Pascal先生非常聪明，心算尤甚，这在西人里面是少见的。记得有次一同去东莞一家潜在被收购的企业面谈，两个小时的会议颇为紧张，Jean-Pascal在他A4纸大小的笔记本上记满了笔记，当时属于首轮面谈，总部财务尚未介入尽职调查，Jean-Pascal想确认他得到的数字是正确的。在机场的咖啡厅，他拿出笔记本，要我和我的总经理再核一下对方讲的数字。他边拿起杯子边看他的笔记本，我知道他在脑子里算开了，果然，啜一口咖啡，他开腔了：“我看到税前净利的差异有10%，你看啊，营业额八千万，成本六千五百万，毛利一千五百万，他说员工、销售、管理人员开支一千一百万，那么税前净利是四百万，而不是他们说的四百五十万，要不然就是他们的销售卖价不对，导致营业额不对，你们算算。”然后他就把最主要的一个产品卖价乘上他们所说的全年总吨数（可得出单件重量），得出总量，即可核出营业额。我惊讶地发现我用计算器尚比不过Jean-Pascal的心算快，这大概就是为什么他能当大老板吧。
Jean-Pascal也是仔细认真的人，有一次我开车带他从慈溪到杭州见客户，到了杭州市区认不得路，开了GPS。Jean-Pascal坐在副驾上，拿着GPS，又不时看路上的指示牌，我怀疑他不怎么明白。当时我很紧张，心想不能在大老板面前出丑啊！他好像看穿了我的心事，安慰我：“别担心Whitney，你只管驾，我来指路。”于是我就听话地左拐右拐下高架，再右拐，直到开上了一家医院大门口的人行道，我才意识到错了，停了下来，我们俩面面相觑，他说：“这不是我的错，是GPS的错。”我忍不住大笑起来，他则一脸错愕，尴尬地微笑起来。
自2011年退休以来，Jean-Pascal一直与我保持着联络，去年他寄给我的圣诞卡一直到快三月下旬才收到，我看邮戳是12月19日，心想这张卡也在环游世界呢。和Jean-Pascal说起这事：“你的卡和你一样热爱旅行，说不定去非洲兜了一圈，才回来它该来的地方。”所以当他问我今年的卡收到没，我猜还在路上呢！
Jean-Pascal再次认真地问我有没有定下去法国的行程，他嘱咐一定要提早告诉他，要不然他很可能不在家。
是的，我也很期待那么一天与他再见面，我想他一定会带我去一些非常有趣的地方。
